Ohio State Employs Dozens of Diversity Staffers, and Nine Make More Than $100,000

Ohio State University employs at least 88 administrators whose job is to promote diversity and inclusion. Many are paid quite well: The top nine make more than $100,000 a year.

That’s according to The College Fix, which estimates that OSU spends at least $7 million on salary and benefits for these employees.

“To put that administrative expense into perspective, about 750 in-state students could get a full scholarship for tuition and fees if those dollars were directed to student financial aid,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Mark Perry told The College Fix. “Stated differently, it takes the entire tuition dollars from 750 in-state students to pay for those 88 diversicrats.”

As I noted earlier this week, a new study by a team of researchers at Baylor University found that hiring a chief diversity officer had no discernible impact on faculty diversity. But despite their lack of accomplishment, diversity officers often draw huge salaries. The OSU College of Engineering’s diversity chief makes $265,000, OSU’s vice provost of diversity makes $197,000, and the assistant vice provost of diversity makes $168,000.

In a post on AEI’s blog, Perry pointed out that according to Education Department data, hiring of new faculty members has not kept pace with student enrollment nationwide, but the ranks of administrators have expanded by 139 percent. No wonder tuition is skyrocketing.